Hyde remains uncertain on retirement

BUFFALO, NY — At last month's Micah Hyde Charity Softball Game in Buffalo, Bills fans, at the urging of quarterback Josh Allen, chanted for him to play "one more year." Hyde, the popular Bills safety who has played 11 seasons in the NFL after having grown up in Fostoria, stopped short, promising only another softball game. He remained non-committal about his football-playing future Saturday after the completion of his seventh annual youth football camp at Memorial Stadium. "Who knows?" Hyde said. "We dealt with a lot last year, just with this neck surgery and coming back. I've always been a person to think that football's not me. Football is what's paved the way for myself, but it's definitely not me. So, I don't want to be limping and hobbling into retirement. "I feel so good right now. If I'm done, I'm done. I'm kind of treating it like it's retirement. But I love to work out; why not just continue to do that and wake up every day? Who knows?" Because of football's violent nature, it's often said that a player's best ability is his availability. And through his first nine seasons in the NFL with the Green Bay Packers and the Bills, Hyde missed just four games due to injury, including the Pro Bowl in 2017. The 2022 season, however, brought a neck injury in Week 2 that ended Hyde's season. And though he returned in 2023, three pinched nerves, commonly known as "stingers," caused him to miss three games and endure considerable pain. Also, his contract expired in March, which left him teamless. Hyde has said that if he were to play this season, it would be with the Bills, who have said they'd be interested in having him return. But without a contract in place, the two sides would have to reach a new agreement. "We still have our place in Buffalo," said Hyde, who with wife Amanda have made their offseason home in San Diego with son Micah Jr. 4, and daughter Maverick, 2. "We don't know what we're doing with it yet. If there's any place I'd go, it would be Buffalo, just because I've been there so long and I know the playbook and everybody there. I'm sure they're kind of waiting on me to miss football enough that I'll give them a call and say I want to come back. I think they're waiting on that, but I don't know if that's going to happen." Hyde may be satisfied with a career in which he made 644 tackles and 24 interceptions and was named to a pair of All-Pro teams. He's already made it known that when his playing days are done, he intends to sink more time into his Fostoria-based IMagINe for Youth foundation. And the Bills aren't pushing him for a choice as of yet. "If there was, like, a best way possible that you could leave your former workplace, that's it," Hyde said. "They literally said, 'If you want to come back, come back. If not, we understand.' But, obviously, right now, if I tell them I want to come back and I thought of (salary) numbers, they might try to play hardball then. "But, as of right now, I'm just thinking of myself as retired without committing to that. Maybe Week 5, Week 6 rolls around – you know, injuries happen in the league; bad plays happen in the league. They might be calling me up and saying, 'Hey, we'll match your number to come back.' And at that point, we'll see what it is."